Coschi Posted February 25, 2007 For PF tek, does the brown rice need to be organic or can it be safeway brown rice? What water should be used for the brf + verm that goes into the jars? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
watertrade Posted February 25, 2007 I wouldn't have thought organic would matter, just use normal tap water too. some would argue that the chlorine in the water would slow the mycelium, once its sterilised there won't be any chlorine in there. good luck Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MORG Posted February 25, 2007 Just to be clear, PF-tek uses brown rice flour. Mushies aren't picky about only eating organic. Watertrade: I'm interested to know why you think sterilising would remove chlorine from water. Unless it is evaporated off through heating then autoclaving water shouldn't have an impact on dissolved chlorine. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Korky Posted February 25, 2007 i have not read the rice needs to be organic, although i do use organic because i can and it seems to be easy to buy in powdered form as i dont powder my own. same with water, havnt heard tap waters no good especially seeing its sterilsed as watertrade pointed out, but again i use demineralised because i can, niether is the cheapest way but im a bit anul. have just gone through this process for the first time recently so the above is not gospil but if you need any assisstance feel free to PM. i was told by a member to be warned that this may become addictive and hot diggity were they right! all the best sphinx its a load of fun. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
watertrade Posted February 25, 2007 I should know the answer to this... ((thinking back to chemistry study.. )) but I thought that boiling the water would drive off the chlorine.. ? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
user1 Posted February 25, 2007 (edited) a lot of the guides seem to recommend distilled water. but boiling normal tapwater and then cooling before use also seems to be quite serviceable. dunno if boiling gets rid of the chlorine or flouride however. Edited February 25, 2007 by user1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
watertrade Posted February 25, 2007 a lot of the guides seem to recommend distilled water. but boiling normal tapwater and then cooling before use also seems to be quite serviceable. dunno if boiling gets rid of the chlorine or flouride however. I think (memory is hazy on this) that boiling will remove the chlorine but the flouride will remain. you would need to distill or use an ion exchange wattsy for that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ENtiTY Posted February 25, 2007 As far as I know chlorine can be removed by aggitating the water or simply letting it stand for a couple of days, remember this from my aquarium days. Also gases are more soluble in liquids the cooler the liquid is. Gas density is a function of temperature and pressure so heating the water before use will def drive of the majority if not all of the chlorine. In a pressure cooker at a lil over 2 atm of pressure the process is prolly slowed a lil but as soon as the pressure diminishes and the temperature remains high the chlorine wouldn't hang around long. Some one I know recently sterilised some tap water for use in making spore syringes, the odor of chlorine is noticed every time the tap is turned on, but after a run in the pressure cooker no chlorine odor was noticed. Potentially harmful impurities such as chlorine were of concern thats why this person I know noticed such things. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aya Posted March 5, 2007 For PF tek, does the brown rice need to be organic or can it be safeway brown rice?What water should be used for the brf + verm that goes into the jars? The reason why they recommend Organic brown rice flour is because OBRF is'nt grown with pesticides and herbacides and these kind of unwanted things. And with the water i'd say if you cant find distilled go with natural spring water as it's quite pure and clean. Remember though mushrooms can be grown of tap water and safeway brown rice and many other things. The reason why these things are recommended though is because they are much cleaner and have a lower chance of contamination in comparison to other substrate materials. And if we're going to go through all the work of trying to cultivate these little wonders we might as well find the best ingredients and pay that little bit (5 dollars max) extra. Give your Spores the best chance possible! and surely they will reward you. Hope this helped Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyAmine. Posted March 5, 2007 Im not sure if using demineralised water is such a good idea, it is said that drinking it is bad for your health because it leaches minerals from your body/bones and Im pretty sure it owuld do that to the substrate as well. Best to use spring water or tab water as suggested above. All the best in your funguyfun. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mescalito Posted March 5, 2007 Andy I agree, I pretty much know this is what lead to my recent brush with Hyponatremia....lots of filtered water Onto the mushie question: 1Hr @15psi and any organisms are dead so a good P.C. is your best friend Brown rice has naturally more nutrients than processed stuff so therefore the preference with vermiculite and flowered riced mix...a thorough search through the SAB engine will supply you with HEAPS of links about what you ask. On another note,you can actually fruit straight from whole brown rice ala Rev's Rice-Cooker Tek using the same PF cake idea,just without the vermicilte...though the yields aren't as plentiful,they seem to colonise faster due to the pockets between the rice grains allowing faster gas-exchange.The fruits seem fatter maybe due to the water holding capacity of the whole-grain? Also,tap-water's fine to use.I wasted a lot of money buying Pureau water and gained no benefit-not anymore! Also with tap water I think even pre-boiling might rob the substrate of useful minerals leaving them behind on the aluminium element in the jug . Sodium chloride doesn't seem to negatively impact on mycelia either and has actually been shown to prevent further contamination via scraping and patching on contam'd cakes. My first successful attempt at the PF Tek was in a dusty garage and I used contact lense cleaner straight out of the sealed bottle to make the syringe so obviously no problems with chloride salts even at the spore storage/germination stage,especially considering the septic environment the experiment was conducted in by an over-enthusiastic first-timer amatuer mycologist The key steps are in the cleanliness especially when growing in an aseptic environment.In particular that of the culture or print and the sterlisation/innoculation/growing conditions and environment. A pressure cooker and glove-box are essential if you want to minimise contam'd projects. ...and you have been warned already mycology is addictive Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ENtiTY Posted March 5, 2007 Aluminium element? What kind of jug you got there Mescalito? Don't you mean Ni,Fe,Cr alloy element Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Coschi Posted March 6, 2007 Thanks everyone, FYI organic BRF and boiled water was used in the end Been in the incubator since Saturday, not game enough to have a look yet! Standard PF from fungifun was used Haven't decided on a casing yet or not, first run may just try birthing cakes My thermocouple tells me the tub is sitting at 31 degrees, but this thing was last calibrated years ago and may be totally out of wack. The heater is set at 27 degrees, should it be trusted? Heater is 100W brand new kmart style The whole time was just thinking "could have done that bit cleaner" as in sterilisation Hope for the best Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ace Posted March 7, 2007 BRF is by far and away the best to be using IME... Keep it up sphinx The heater should be very accurate, perhaps knock it back to 25.5C-26C for a bit of insurance. Too cool will mean slower colonisation, too hot will mean stalled jars AFAIK. Sterilisation is a bit over-rated IME too - as long as you were clean and very careful, you will be fine. Unless you are in a lab, its unlikely you will ever gain 'sterile' conditions. Hope you have a bit of luck - its a great hobby once you get started. And the medicinal qualities of mushrooms is phenominal - I think vit-B12 is very high in them (might be something else) along with a few other goodies Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ENtiTY Posted March 7, 2007 Actually from my experience with aquariums the heaters can be out by as much as 3 deg C. All depends on the quality of your heater I suppose. The one I used to have in my aquarium was out by about 2 deg C, When it was set to 28 C the actual water temp was 26 C. Your best bet would be to use a themometer and adjust the heater untill you get the targeted temp. I agree with Ace as far as sterilisation is concerned. All depends on the humidity and temp of the location you live in I guess. Areas with higher humidity and temp will most likely be more prone to contam than dryer locations. Its prolly best to follow all precautions though, at least until you get a feel for whats involved. Better safe than sorry As for casing or birthing, I'd prolly go for birthing for a start, or maybe 50/50 birth some and case some. I'd recommend birthing as at least this way you'll have some backup material to restart from if the cases fail. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mescalito Posted March 7, 2007 Aluminium element?What kind of jug you got there Mescalito? Don't you mean Ni,Fe,Cr alloy element Sorry meant alloy dude...It was a long night. Impressed at your metallurgical analysis of the common jug element though Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ENtiTY Posted March 8, 2007 LOL Amazing what you learn when reading about catalysts Consider me the official forum jug expert hahaha. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
